September 17, 2008

Changing icky walls

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but where I live, lots of houses were built with this texture on the walls they call "orange peel". Isn't that what you call cellulite? Ick.

This is the before photo of my cellulite walls.

With these tools... mud, a tray, a trowel, and a putty knife, I changed the whole room.I did forget one thing in the photo... fine sand paper.

What I did was clomp it onto the wall, spread it flat with the trowel for the most part, and when it was dry I sanded it down so it was a slightly smooth surface. With dents and divets part of the goal, I used my putty knife to come back and fix any holes I didn't like the look of, and then sanded it again when it was dry.

The first time I did this to a room in my house, I was too cautious and I spent FAR too long on it.

This time, I decided it was going to be much rougher, and easy to do.

After this point, I primed it, and painted it!

One word of warning, well maybe two, for this project... Dust gets everywhere when you sand, so put up sheets in doorways to slow it down. AND do it when you feel good. All that shoulder action makes you sore!

That's why this room took me a year to complete. I couldn't do anything on it when my shoulder/back was giving me grief. So take on something like this when you feel ok.

I love your blog! There's always something hew to look at. I can tell you are one creative girl! Thanks for the comment on my photo blog...I really appreciate it! Hope you dont mind if I stop back in often:)